Forbidden Love
by Wanda the Crazed
Summary: A random fan-fiction about a girl named Kel who fell in love with a man named Raoul. 'Nuff said, now READ! :)
1. Introduction

Keladry of Mindelan, a Knight of the King's Own under the service of King Jonathan of Conte, the second maiden to succeed Lady Alanna, defeater of Blayce the Gallan, smite-r of evil, once squire of the Knight Raoul of Godenlake and Malorie's Peak the Knight Commander of the King's Own, and currently on vacation sat on her bed, eyes vacant at the moment. The shock of her off-leave vacation for the month hadn't settled in into her skull, the whirling adrenaline in her blood hadn't settled down since her encounter with Blayce, an evil man who attempted to steal children's soul in order to command a legion of formidable machines. The absolute vacant of her schedule left her stripped of any duty. Her dreamer hazel eyes stared at the courtyard below, her long lashes batting lazily. Her soft brown hair, now grown long since her knighthood, was firmly tied back behind her head.  
  
She saw the Yamani glaives twirling around in the yard, its wielders following a delicate step handed down traditionally to the women of the Yamani Isle. Her eyes lazily followed the swishing pattern cutting intricate patterns in the air. She could distantly hear a knock on her door but she chose to ignore it as she followed the silver streaks of light.  
  
"Kel!" Neal of Queenscove shouted again as he banged on her door. Owen and Cleon approached him as Neal flung his body at Kel's door once again.  
  
"No use?" Owen asked, his usually plump and friendly face lined with creases of worry.  
  
"No use. How long has she been like this?" Neal had been visiting his girlfriend Yuki, one of Kel's friend, at the Yamani Isle right after Kel came back from defeating Blayce. When he returned, his best friend hadn't greeted him from the courtyard as she usually would. Instead, he found her locked in her room, silent and remote.  
  
"Ever since she came back from defeating Blayce, all she's ever done is sit in her room and stare blankly. Maybe the shock from that made her like that." and Cleon drifted off. He didn't want to mention the fact that he had broken off with Kel when he discovered that his mother had engaged him to some rich dame in order to save his fief.  
  
Neal sank to the floor, burying his head in his arms. Here he was, outside the door while his best friend could be probably on the process of committing suicide or worse, dead. "Mithros Kel, why are you leaving me out in the cold?"  
  
The door unlocked with a soft click. Neal immediately got up and pushed the door ajar to see Kel huddled on the bed, tears streaming from her eyes and her hair matted from sweat. Her clothes were ruffled and wrinkled everywhere.  
  
"Kel!" Neal exclaimed as he dashed off to where she huddled.  
  
Kel lifted her puffed up face, smiled weakly, and then passed out 


	2. Nightmare

Kel woke up in her bed after a day, her vision bleary from sleep.  
  
"Finally awoke Sleepyhead?" asked a gruff voice.  
  
Kel's vision cleared up to see her former knight-master peering down at her face. His black eyes glimmered with humor and care as he teased his former squire.  
  
"Raoul."  
  
"I've been worried about you Kel. I heard from your friends that you haven't been eating and sleeping properly. Meatball head is bashing his head on the wall with worry. What's eating you?"  
  
"I." she began and then looked away.  
  
"I saw you tossing and turning. It's those nightmare huh? Those nightmares about Blayce."  
  
Tears started to stream from her face again and her body began to shudder. "I. I can't escape him. Every time I close my eyes, he's there, waiting for me. And I. I get so. scared."  
  
Raoul put a comforting arm on her shoulder. The iron-willed girl who stood so strong when her and her friends were chased by bandits, who stood firm for the fort she was assigned now sat before him, trembling in fear. He then drew her close and held her as she cried. 


	3. Strangers

Neal missed his mouth again. The broccoli that was supposed to end up in his mouth, ended up on the floor. He lamely jabbed another broccoli and attempted at his mouth again. He watched Cleon be fed by his doleful little fiancée and silently gagged. He knew what happened between Kel and Cleon, it was no secret what they had going on and he despised him for that. He had liked Kel since the day he met her and some other guy just took her from him. He had tried to appease himself by attaching himself Yuki, which seemed to work for a while. He had even followed her back to the Yamani Isle for a two-month vacation. But when he discovered her huddled on her bed with tears streaming down her face, his crush or what- ever resurrected from the dead.  
  
With a loud sigh, Neal put down his fork and drank deeply from his goblet. Of the corner of his eye, he spotted Lord Raoul leaving the dining hall with a tray of food and decided to follow. With a brief mumble of apologies to his friends, he quickly chased after Raoul.  
  
"Lord Raoul!" he called after.  
  
Raoul turned around to face Neal and smiled. "Queenscove! Following me to see my ex-squire?"  
  
Neal smiled briefly and opened the door to the infirmary and found his best friend lying on the bed looking vulnerable. He suddenly had the impulse to climb in the bed with her and wrap his arms around her, to give her some sort of assurance of her safety, but he couldn't. Not ever. He was engaged and the girl, actually the woman, he loved was his best friend. Never will he be able to find himself with her in his arms, her eyes lovingly gazing into his.  
  
"Kel, wake up. I brought your dinner," Raoul called softly as he gently sat beside her.  
  
Kel stirred from her restless sleep and gazed at her teacher blankly.  
  
Neal could swear he felt something between the ex-teacher and his pupil for an instant when she awoke. However, that feeling, that spark, that moment dissipated in an instant when she blinked and greeted Raoul weakly.  
  
"Hey Kel, you feeling all right?" Neal asked as he approached her bed.  
  
She smiled weakly at him as Raoul cradled her head and spoon-fed her some broth.  
  
There was an intimate atmosphere between the two. Neal felt as though he was intruding on something that didn't include him. Feeling a bit awkward, he said, "I'll see you around once you get better Kel," and left the infirmary, suddenly feeling like a stranger to his best friend.  
  
~8~ "Raoul, don't you have better things to do than tend to your sick little friend?" she asked weakly as Raoul sat on the chair beside her.  
  
"Now what can be more important than tending a sick friend?" he questioned innocently.  
  
"Buri." she whispered.  
  
For a moment Kel could see conflicting emotions in his eyes. However, he had it controlled in an instant and his composure seemed to emulate after Kel's infamous Yamani face.  
  
"Buri? What about Buri? What about her makes her worth my time?" he asked simply.  
  
She could tell this was a subject she should tread on at the moment and replied softly, "Nothing."  
  
"You know Kel, it's getting a little late. I'll stop by tomorrow okay?" Raoul said abruptly and left the infirmary without hearing her reply.  
  
Kel saw him leave and sighed heavily. She slowly got up from her bed, flexing her limbs. The Gift works wonders, she thought to herself as she left the room in search of something. refreshing and helpful for her to forget. 


	4. Vulnerable

Buri.? What about her? There was nothing between us.Raoul ranted in his mind as he briskly headed for his room and slammed the room. Nothing.he shouted in his mind as he roughly pulled off his boots followed by his clothes. He went into the bathroom and went into the tub already filled with hot water from the castle servants.  
  
Buri. Commander Buri of the Queen's Riders. The woman he once loved and lost. ONCE. It was the inevitable. The two were good friends that always argued good-naturedly. Their friendship then naturally grew into something more, and soon they were sleeping together. Then, out of the blues, Buri called it all off. She said something about how she found someone else on one of her campaigns. Someone who would always be there for her because a knight, especially the Knight Commander of the King's Own, could not always be relied on to be there by a person's side constantly. With that brief explanation, she walked out of his life, forever. There was an invitation to her wedding to some bastard, but of course, he burned that letter the instant he saw her name. Buri? Who's Buri? There is no Buri.  
  
After a good hard scrub, he grabbed a towel and dried himself of moisture. As he started putting his trousers on, he heard a soft knock on the door and then a heavy thump on the ground, followed by some glass object rolling on the floor. He quickly put on the rest of his clothes and opened the door. He found Kel giggling softly as she grabbed the bottle she dropped. She looked up and smiled sheepishly.  
  
"Hello Raoul, can I *hiccup* come in?" she said, her speech slurred.  
  
"Kel? Have you been drinking?" he asked in surprise, appalled by her appearance.  
  
Her hair was again ruffled into a mess along with her clothes. She swayed somewhat as she got on her feet. She smiled stupidly and took a step, finding herself falling into Raoul's arms.  
  
"Oh god Kel. Why did you drink yourself to a stupor?" he groaned as he dragged her onto his bed.  
  
She sat up abruptly and lifted her bottle, as if to give a toast. "Drink? What drink? Oh this thing? It's just a little punch. Nothing more~" and she took a swig of wine.  
  
"That's quite enough," Raoul said sternly as he attempted to take the bottle away from her.  
  
"Why take away my fun? I haven't had that for a while now. It's my own little party," she said as she grabbed it and took another gulp.  
  
Raoul grabbed the bottle away from her and threw it out the window against her protest. "Look Kel, I don't know if you're trying to escape your nightmares but this is not how you do it."  
  
"Nightmares? Oh you mean those dreams I've been having about those children getting slaughtered. Nah. It's not mainly that. It's more on the lines of love," she commented woozily and plopped down on the bed.  
  
"Love? You're in love?" Raoul asked bemusedly at his companion.  
  
"Were. I was in love. With Cleon. Who ended up going after some bimbo with money. Can't blame him. Who'd choose this scrawny tomboy over some beautiful shapely blonde that's loaded?"  
  
Raoul sat next to the drunk Kel. "You're not the only one with the heart broken. Buri left me to get married to some bastard who has a much more stable life than I. We're in the same boat but you don't see me getting drunk."  
  
Kel sat up again and stared at him. "Buri left you? Aren't we just a wonderful pair of shattered hearts," she sang while she swayed about.  
  
Raoul grabbed a hold of Kel. "Listen Kel. This is not how you escape reality. This will end up making you do things that you'll regret later!"  
  
"Something like. this?" and she kissed him firmly on the mouth.  
  
Raoul stared at her shocked and stood up quickly. "Exactly! Why can't you just come to your senses for once like you used to?"  
  
"Like I USED to. The oh-so-wonderful-Kel that is a tomboy. Yes, that wonderful pleasant little girl that decided to be a knight because she felt that she could overcome the odds in the world of men. That beautiful foolish girl who gave her heart away to some guy who ended up breaking her heart but remained calm and collected because she is supposed to be rational. The rational sensible Kel! That's who I am. Rational and sensible!"  
  
Hearing her rant, Raoul finally came to realize what was wrong. It wasn't just the whole Blayce incident. It was everything. Everyone's expectations, the gossips, the pressure. He grabbed her and held her tight, to give her some sort of reassurance that everything was all right when it truly wasn't.  
  
At this sudden burst of his physical emotion, Kel began to cry softly, clinging to her friend because she had no one else to hold onto.  
  
The two clung to each other, one comforting the other while the other clung for support. After a few minutes Kel reluctantly pulled away and sat down on his bed again.  
  
"Is it okay if.." she began.  
  
"It's okay. You can sleep with me tonight," Raoul said reassuringly.  
  
Kel smiled her thanks and she immediately fell asleep.  
  
Raoul looked at his beloved vulnerable friend, worried about her stability and her endurance. Noticing her boots still intact on her feet, he gently pulled them off from them and covered her with his blanket. With that covered, he softly kissed her on the forehead and went to sleep on the floor. 


	5. Take Away My Pain

~8~ Neal paced in front of Kel's door, his forehead creased with worry. Where was Kel? She wasn't in the infirmary and she wasn't answering the knocks on her door. Is she back to her gloomy hermetic state again? He paced left to right, right to left, etc. faintly leaving a worn circular path from his pacing. He heard feet dragging off in the shadows not far from his right. He faced the darkness, hoping it to be Kel. An answer to his wishes, Kel appeared from the shadows, her whole entire self reeking with wine. Her hair was extremely tousled and her eyes carried bags underneath.  
  
"Kel! Where were you? Where did you spend the night? What happened?" Neal asked as he rushed to her aid.  
  
"Just drank a little. Spent the night at Raoul's." she mumbled as she struggled with the doorknob.  
  
His eyes widened. "Did. did anything happen between the two of you? Did. he take advantage of you?"  
  
"Don't be silly Meatball Head. He's a respectable person. He wouldn't take advantage on his friend," and she successfully slammed the door open, proceeding to strip her boots.  
  
Neal sat on her bed and silently sulked at her dismissal.  
  
"Do you mind? I'm trying to take a bath," Kel said, her stripping in a standstill motion.  
  
"Oh it's okay. Just pretend I'm not here."  
  
"NEAL!"  
  
"I'm just kidding. Don't worry, I won't play Player with you anymore. I'll go attend to my followers now. Kel," Neal's tone suddenly got extremely serious, "if there's anything wrong or if you need comforting, I'm here for you. Don't forget that," and he left the room quickly.  
  
"Comforting?" she scoffed while taking off the rest of her clothes and entering the bathroom, "I don't need comforting. I just need something to take away my pain. Love and the rest." 


	6. Gossip

"Did you hear about that Mindelan girl and Sir Raoul rumor?" asked a delicate court lady to her fellow gossip group.  
  
"No. What?" asked her companion.  
  
"Lady Delia spotted that girl drunk like crazy and enter Sir Raoul's chamber. She said that girl didn't surface until this morning."  
  
The lady let out a delicate gasp of surprise. "Oh really? So that sir dumped his exotic love slave for a child?"  
  
"I believe so."  
  
"The other ladies will be so tickled to hear about this." 


	7. Kiss Me

Kel snuck in a crate of burgundy in the middle of the night, avoiding her friends and enemies. Smirking in the moonlight that shone through her windows, she plied open the crate to see a dozen bottles filled to the brim with pain-releasing concoctions. She popped opened one of the corks, releasing a foam of delicate pink.  
  
"Here's to my sorrow and my pain," she cheered as she lifted the bottle in the air. She lowered the bottle to her lips and began to swallow it in large gulps.  
  
Raoul slowly approached Kel's chamber because he suspected that she would get herself blindly drunk like the night before. Filled with worry like the rest of Kel's friends, he knocked on the door, hoping to be greeted with the sound of her soft snoring. Instead he heard a drunk "who is it?" reply from the other side of the door. Raoul groaned inwardly from disappointment and pity for his young heartbroken friend. "Kel, it's me again. Would you kindly open the door?"  
  
He heard her struggle to her feet, and then struggling with the lock on her door. After a few minutes, she successfully opened the door to see Raoul's frowning face.  
  
"Raoul! Welcome! Happy to see you again? Are you disappointed to see me like this again?" she asked cheerfully as she greeted him with open arms.  
  
"Can I come in?" he asked patiently.  
  
"Of course, of course! You are always welcome. Drink?" she asked as he sat on her bed.  
  
"No thanks."  
  
"What brings you here? You know, one might start thinking that you have an attachment to me because of your frequent 'unprofessional' visits."  
  
"Oh it's nothing of that sort," Raoul reassured her.  
  
Kel approached him. "Are you sure?" she asked, her voice suddenly low and husky.  
  
"Kel.?"  
  
She reached his face and kissed him passionately.  
  
Raoul jumped from his seat, dropping Kel on the ground. "KEL! What are you trying to do?" he asked sharply as he watched Kel struggle back on her feet.  
  
"Trying to kiss you stupid. What else do you think I'm doing?"  
  
"This isn't right and you know it! I'm way too old for you and you're too young to start kissing old men."  
  
"Old men? You're not an old man and I'll kiss whoever I please. Why won't you let me kiss you? You don't like me?"  
  
Raoul sighed heavily and sat down on the bed again. "It's not that simple. For one thing, you're drunk. Your feelings aren't genuine. The other? I'm simply too old for you."  
  
Kel looked at him, her face contorted in rage. "My feelings aren't genuine because I'm drunk? I believe I'm the most honest when I AM drunk! This is the only time when I actually let my guard down and everything I do is genuine! And what's this about age? Diane and Numair are about twenty years apart but you don't see them having any problems with that! Stop making excuses for yourself and tell me the truth!"  
  
"Kel please!"  
  
"Kel please what? Get away from me? Why not? I don't want to infect the rest of the world with my troubles," and she stumbled out of her room, leaving Raoul speechless. 


	8. The Human Statue

Kel found herself stumbling around the hallway in the dark but she could care less. This was one of those rare opportunities where she could get drunk without having any court ladies staring at her and later gossiping about her masculinity with their "embroidery" circle. She snorted loudly at the very thought of the ladies innocently sewing pretty little flowers on the dresses they've decided to wear for the latest upcoming ball. Her face disfigured at the very thought of a ball. The swirling ladies in enormous gaudy dresses and dizzying laughter and giggles from the nobles were too much for her stomach and she found herself retching on the palace corridor. She still wasn't sober yet. Humming softly to herself, she stumbled in the darkness, allowing her feet to carry her body somewhere away from her room where Sir Raoul was probably still sitting, shocked from her "outrageous" behavior.  
  
Her feet stopped in front of a door and her eyebrows rose about an inch. She was standing in front of Neal's door. Neal, the guy she had a crush on when she was a page. Neal, the sarcastic yet hilarious charismatic best friend she had ever known. She felt her knees buckling from the amount of alcohol swirling in her blood and she slumped against his door. Her mind still bogged up from the alcohol, she forgot to knock on his door and fell asleep.  
  
Neal woke up suddenly, hearing a soft thump on his door. He used his Gift to bring a small light into his chamber while groping for something hard as a weapon. He slowly approached the door and opened it cautiously, waiting for a thief to barge in and attack. Instead, he found Kel tumbling into his room, completely drunk and asleep. He sighed in relief and in exasperation. He dropped his makeshift weapon and snapped loudly. The glass globes installed in his room flickered on. He silently thanked Numair Salamin for installing this convenience in his room, even if he slightly didn't approve of his choice of a lover. He picked his best friend up from the ground and gently set her on his bed. The light in his room dimly lighted her face, softening her usually sharp features into something cherubic.  
  
There will never be a chance to catch her off-guard again, Neal thought to himself as he gazed at his drunk friend. I might never get this opportunity. He leaned close to her face, soaking up all the lovely features of her face. His eyes traced her softly arched eyebrows, her long lashes, her small gently arched nose, and her full red lips. His lips parted gently and kissed Kel on the lips. He drank up all the sensory details of his kiss, embracing it because he knew he would never get this chance again. He then stood up from his bed, lied down on the floor, caught another glimpse of the woman he loved, and fell asleep.  
  
~8~ "Neal! Neal! Wake up!" a female voice nagged him while a sharp finger prodded at his side.  
  
Neal mumbled something incoherent and swatted the finger that poked him continuously.  
  
"NEAL!" the voice screamed into his ear.  
  
"I'm awake! I'm awake!" he shouted, lazily getting up from his uncomfortably stiff substitute for a bed. He was greeted by a pair of hazel eyes that were frowning. "KEL! Good morning to you too! What brings you down here on this very stiff bed of mine?"  
  
"This is no time for jokes Meatball Head. Did anything weird happen between us last night?" she asked pointedly.  
  
"Oh you mean how you started to come on me and told me to dump Yuki so we can run away and get married together?"  
  
Kel took a step back in surprise.  
  
"I'm just kidding, don't worry!" he reassured her, "There was no funny business. You just ended asleep in front of my door so I picked you up and let you borrow my bed for the day. Believe me, that was a BIG sacrifice."  
  
Kel smiled gratefully at his ability to keep cool and comical at such an awkward situation. "Well, I'm really grateful for what you've done for me. I'm just not myself these days. I'm not that Yamani Lump that everyone knows and loves anymore."  
  
Neal longed to reach for her to hug and comfort her at her vulnerable state but he resisted his desire in fear of destroying the friendship that he feared was in jeopardy. Instead, he sat right next to her and held her hand. "Kel, it's okay to let down your guard once in a while, especially for you because you always put up a front whenever something emotional affects you," he said comfortingly. Then he added, "It's all right to act like a human being once in a while you know."  
  
Kel stared at him, his words sinking deep into her mind. She never really did express her emotions due to her Yamani training. Everything that she held close to her heart remained there and nowhere else. She didn't want to wear her heart on her sleeves as the cliché said and so she literally took it to meaning and held everything back behind her Yamani face. The blank expression served its purpose numerous of times, keeping inquisitive minds away from her problems, yet left her lonely without some sort of human compassion. He was right. She never really acted like a human, showing emotions and vulnerabilities once in a while.  
  
Silent tears filled her eyes then fell, leaving a faint trail of salty water on her ruddy face. "You are right," she said softly, looking at the floor below. "I guess I never really did show my vulnerability. I just wanted to prove to the world that I was capable of being a knight and I discarded everything that was labeled as 'feminine sentimentalities.' Everything was hidden behind my Yamani face. I was being the human statue."  
  
Neal cupped her face and looked at her sternly. "Don't call yourself the human statue. You showed compassion to those who were bullied by Joren. You fed and cared for your animals. You loved the people you protected back at that fort. Don't say you didn't have any emotions."  
  
Kel looked at him, teary eyed. His smooth complexion was furrowed with love for his friend while his emerald green eyes glimmer with compassion. For a moment, her crush for Neal which she had attempted to quash rekindled and suddenly she felt like throwing her arms around him and kissing him passionately on the mouth. But she remembered his engagement to Yuki and immediately quashed her feelings for her best friend once again.  
  
Neal felt a sudden change in Kel's eyes that shone with love which immediately dulled behind her tears. Unsure of what had occurred, he slowly dropped his hands from her face and looked at the ground which suddenly seemed fascinating.  
  
Kel cleared her throat softly and stood up. "Thanks for your help Neal. It really improved my mood."  
  
Neal mumbled something between a "No problem" and a "You're welcome."  
  
"I'll see you around," and she left the room, closing his door with a soft click.  
  
"Ah. you stupid Meatball Head." Neal scolded himself as he grabbed a handful of his hair in frustration. 


	9. A Common Harlot

[Author's note: I am extremely sorry for misspelling Daine's name. My fingers automatically typed out Diane instead of Daine. I guess it's a habit. XP Oh and I confused Sailor Moon's Meatball head (how tragic is that?) with Meathead. Deepest apologies to those who were offended. This crazed author seems to have several realities mixed in together.]  
~8~  
  
Cleon stood in the corridor, flirting with his fiancée halfheartedly. She wasn't as exciting as Kel but for the sake of his people, he had to stand firm with his choice to Ermelian. Kennan was in desperate need of money. Its crops had failed miserably several times and he couldn't afford to miss this opportunity to get a huge dowry, but at the price of hurting Kel seemed too much to ask for. The image of his starving people overrode his love for Kel and he consented to his marrying Ermelian. The girl wasn't that bad either. She was pleasing to look at and she wasn't as dimwitted as a lot of the court ladies. However, his love for Kel never seemed to go away especially since his discovery of her perculiar behavior.  
  
Kel, occupied with the uncomfortable memories of her moment with Neal, brushed past the two lovebirds without a second thought. However, Clean immediately recognized his former love and brushed off his fiancée immediately.  
  
"Kel! Wait up!" he called after her disappearing shadow.  
  
Kel faltered a step and was tempted to look back to face her ex-lover but she knew that once she faced his brilliant smile and cocky eyes, she would spend another year mourning for her loss. She could not face him right now, not when everything seemed to fall apart right before her eyes. She walked quicker, attempting to reach her room before Cleon could so she could slam the door in his face.  
  
Clean began to run after her and caught her shoulders in only a few steps. "Kel," he began, unsure of what to say.  
  
"What do you want Cleon? I've got a lot of things to do and you are preventing me from doing it."  
  
"Cleon! Wait up darling!" Ermelian called from the distance, daintily holding up her dress and walking towards them.  
  
"I. I just wanted to know how you were doing. Everyone was talking about how you locked-"  
  
"Does it look like I'm in my room right now moping?" she asked sharply, refusing to turn around and face him.  
  
"I guess you're right."  
  
"Now if you please," and Kel lifted the arm off her shoulders, proceeding her path to her bedroom.  
  
"Honey," Ermelian began, finally catching up to her fiancée, "isn't she that Mindelan girl that has been rumored to be sleeping with both the chief commander of the King's Own and your friend, Sir Neal?"  
  
"WHAT?!" Clean cried in outrage and shock.  
  
Ermelian sniffled a little, a little alarmed by the amount of anger in his tone. "Well, it's been rumored at the Court that the 'Mindelan Whore,' I didn't name her, the other ladies did, has been sleeping with Sir Raoul of Goldenlake and Sir Nealan of Queenscove. It really is the talk of the Court nowadays. Of course, no one talks about it in front of the Queen because, well, I believe she is too delicate to associate herself into a circle of gossipers."  
  
Clean gaped at her, open-mouthed. He was completely taken by surprise by the information he was suddenly overwhelmed with. Kel sleeping with guys like a common harlot? "Impossible!" he vehemently retorted back. "Kel would never subject her status to a dirty harlot. The court ladies just like to gossip TOO much. Sometimes I wonder as to how far they will in order to attract attention and entertain themselves." With that final word, he stomped off to where Kel had disappeared, leaving his very offended fiancée shocked in her path. 


	10. Leftover Love and Spice to Add

"Kel, is it true what they say?" Clean asked, as he stared directly into her hazel eyes.  
  
After his bitter spat with his fiancée, Cleon had ended up in front of Kel's door. The flood of information had forced him to come to the source of his confusion: Kel. Kel, the girl he had at first nonchalantly flirted with then later fell in love with, the girl who's heart he had broken, the girl who was the only one who held his heart yet would always remain forbidden. Kel had reluctantly let him enter and now he sat across from her, in need of some sort of consolation that the girl he had loved hadn't damaged her reputation in some way, not when she had strived so hard to become a respectable lady knight, the second in the realm of Tortall.  
  
Kel refused to look at him, not because of the faulty accusations that fell on her path, but because her love for Clean hadn't ebbed away. She doubted that she would ever replace the void he left in her heart when he abruptly ended their relationship.  
  
"Does this mean what those 'ladies' gossip about is true?"  
  
She slammed her fist on her wooden table and stared directly at him, her eyes filled with brimstones of outrage. "Is that how you see me? A harlot? Do you think I give myself to any passing man because I'm heartbroken? How dare you underestimate me like that!"  
  
Cleon slumped back at his chair in relief.  
  
However, Kel was worked up and started ranting and attacking Cleon, her sorrow changed into hate.  
  
"I thought you knew me! I thought you loved me for who I am! I guess I was wrong! Is that why you said you loved me? Because you thought I was just another girl who would be eager to have SEX with you? I was just your escape and your entertainment wasn't I? Now that some 'respectable' girl has finally crossed your path, you dump me for that 'jewel.' " She stood abruptly and stared out her window. "Of course. No one takes me seriously anyway. Never did. I can save the world from certain disaster and they would still make denoting comments because I'm a GIRL."  
  
Cleon walked to her and laid a comfortingly hand on her shoulder. "You know that's not true. You're letting your grief blind you with hate. You know it as well as I do. You know deep in your heart that I loved you and I still do."  
  
Kel turned around to face him, who happened to be extremely close. She could feel his breathing brush against her cheeks and her heart began to beat faster. "You still love me?" she whispered, her face inching closer.  
  
"I can't forget about you Kel. You're always on my mind." His face leaned to kiss her when they were suddenly interrupted by a barrage of knocks on her door.  
  
Kel immediately stepped away from him, blushing slightly for being so unguarded and rushed to get the door.  
  
"Kel, I-" Neal began then stopped shortly after spotting Cleon standing uncomfortably behind her. He looked at Kel again to see a faint trace of blush leave her cheeks. "Did I interrupt something?" he asked vehemently.  
  
Kel's blush returned boldly and colored her cheeks with a brilliant crimson. "No Neal. Nothing was going on. Cleon was about to leave to meet up with his fiancée," she said firmly, ignoring the burning blush remain on her face.  
  
"Uh. right." Cleon took his cue and immediately scurried out of her bedroom.  
  
Neal watched Cleon leave with sharpened eyes resembling close to a hawk's. "So what was REALLY going on in here?"  
  
"Won't you come in Neal?" Kel asked, ignoring his blunt question.  
  
"Don't mind if I do," and he entered the room, sitting in the seat that was occupied by Cleon a few minutes ago.  
  
"So what brings you into my bedroom?"  
  
"Lalasa's been looking for you. She's trying to pin you down so she can fix up a dress for you before the Midsummer's ball."  
  
Kel made a face and made a gagging noise. "Why her sudden fascination with dressed for me? She used to fix up nice tunics and breeches lined with nice little embroideries."  
  
"That was when you were still training to be a knight. You've graduated from that for several years now. It's time for you to act like a lady knight now. Lady Alanna doesn't make much fuss about it."  
  
"NOW she doesn't. I know for a fact that she never wanted to wear a dress, it was only after she got married that she started wearing dresses. She STILL doesn't like them that much."  
  
"Well it's nice to dress all prettied up sometimes."  
  
"Let me guess, you've been secretly trying on all these nice ballgowns."  
  
"You finally caught me! Oh, I think I hear the dressmaker right outside your door."  
  
Correctly interpreting the soft footsteps approaching her door, Lalasa opened Kel's bedroom door. "I suppose Sir Nealon was trying to warn you of my coming," she said wickedly.  
  
"On the contrary, I was preventing her from escaping," Neal responded, winking at Kel.  
  
She stuck out her tongue as Lalasa began to take measurements all around her body. After finishing the measuring, Lalasa frowned at Kel. "Lady Kel! You've grown two more inches! At this rate, I'll have to replace your entire wardrobe AGAIN!"  
  
Kel grimaced at the thought of Lalasa fussing over every article of clothing she owned. "It's not my fault I'm growing like a beanstalk. Do you think I WANT all these new clothes?"  
  
Neal sniggered in the background.  
  
Kel whirled around and growled at him.  
  
"Whoa Kel. Got to keep down that temper. It's not very lady-like you know," and he winked.  
  
"Out," she commanded him.  
  
"What? What did I do? You can't just me out. It's not. very rational."  
  
"It's my room so I will do what I'd like."  
  
"Better not get on her nerves any longer Sir Neal. You know what she can do once she gets extremely angry," Lalasa warned him gently.  
  
"Right! I'm out of here! I'll see you soon LADY Kel!" he shouted as he ran out.  
  
"I'm going to-"  
  
"Lady Kel, would you lift your arms so I can measure your waist?" 


	11. Save Us a Dance

Raoul sat on his bed, his head resting on his arms. The silly girl was fooling with his heart. Of course. She was drunk. That was all. However her drunken words echoed in his mind, My feelings aren't genuine because I'm drunk? I believe I'm the most honest when I AM drunk! The words of a drunk. Nothing more. or that's what he kept telling himself. He sorely wished it to be true but he knew she was on the rebound from Cleon. To add to that, she was at a vulnerable state where everything was tumbling down before her. He couldn't just take advantage of her when she was the weakest. He didn't even know himself if he loved the girl. He was as old as Lady Alanna, which said something because she now had a kid that was around ten.  
  
He sighed heavily. Top of all this Kel business, he had to get ready for the Midsummer's ball. Things just weren't going his way.  
  
~8~ I was so close! Cleon thought to himself as he stood before the tailor to get fitted. I was close enough to kiss her like how I used to when she was a squire. Why can't things be like how it used to be? The tailor fussed about his height as Cleon remained oblivious. I miss her. I miss everything about her. I just didn't realize how much I took advantage of until I was so close enough to hear her breath. I want everything back. I want her back. If only things were a bit different, maybe he could have deserted his marriage with Ermelian and married Kel. But things weren't different. His people sorely needed the funding to live and Ermelian was his ticket to ending the suffering.  
  
Sighing heavily, he stepped down the stool he was standing on so that the tailor could measure his height. 


	12. Shall We Dance?

Kel was nervous. She had never adorned in such rarity as the dress she was wearing at the moment. Her dress was made of light yellow cotton to accent her brown hair and hazel eyes. It was long and flowing to let the breeze reach her legs to keep her cool instead of overheating. Her hair was currently being swept up in a somewhat messy-looking pile with two medium strips of hair softy dangling in front of her face. Lalasa had painted light gold eye paint on her eye lids and brushed her lips with glossy lip balm to give it a supple look. Kel stood in front of her mirror, breathless of the radical change about her.  
  
"I look like a. lady!" Kel breathed in wonder.  
  
Lalasa stood in front of her and glanced at her latest work. "Well, you're certainly no Queen Thayet, but it'll do," she said teasingly and tugged at her dress one last time to straighten it out.  
  
There was a hurried knock outside of her door. "Dress check please!" said a voice outside.  
  
Lalasa looked at Kel and then said, "Hide in the latrine. I'll fix the boys this time. I don't want them to see you until the ball."  
  
Kel grumbled but consented, pouting in the room as Owen and the rest of Kel's friends piled in for Lalasa to check their clothing arrangement.  
  
"Sir Owen! You haven't even entirely tucked in your shirt! Tuck it in this instant!" Lalasa scolded as Owen sheepishly obliged. "Now scurry off children. You won't be able to see Kel until the ball. Go along."  
  
The boys complained loudly but listened begrudgingly, shouting, "No fair!" as they piled out.  
  
Lalasa peeked into the latrine. "Lady Kel, the ball awaits your presence," and she winked.  
  
~8~ Raoul yawned dramatically, his facial expression etched with boredom all over. Kel was nowhere to be seen. He needed to talk to her but she hadn't yet made any appearance in the ball. He sighed with disappointment as he slowly walked away from the crowd of his lady admirers and headed towards the wine table. At that moment, he found Kel entering the room and withheld a gasp of surprise. Lalasa had lived up to her name. Kel was transformed from a mopey tomboy knight into a beautiful lady. He saw all her friends dash up to her side and decided to wait patiently until her crowd thinned out and he could catch her alone.  
  
~8~ Neal laughed artificially with the ladies and his friends as they listened to the latest bit of gossip. Neal didn't pay attention to anything they were saying. He was busily scanning the crowd for Kel to appear. Finally, at the corner of his eye, he saw a lady clad in a flowing yellow gown enter the room.  
  
"Hey it's Kel!" Owen said delightfully and he rushed to her side. Neal and the rest of his friends followed eagerly to greet their friend and exclaim at her lady-like appearance.  
  
Cleon lingered around for a bit longer but followed his friends, eager to see Kel in her lady-like mask.  
  
~8~ Kel nervously walked into the room. She was a tad bit late so everyone was already inside the room besides her. Chasing her nervousness away, she put on her calm Yamani mask and continued to walk, looking cool and comfortable. She saw her friends approach her and coo on how wonderfully she looked.  
  
"Wow Kel. So you ARE a girl!" Owen exclaimed as he politely stared at her dress and figure.  
  
Neal gallantly sauntered over to her and kneeled on one knee. "Would the lady please me for a dance?"  
  
Kel smiled at his "knightly" behavior and accepted his hand.  
  
"Hey Kel! Save me a dance once Neal's over!" Prince Roald said, his voice later drowned by the requests from all the other friends.  
  
"Loving all the attention you're getting?" Neal asked as he gently grabbed one of her arm to lead and gently placed another around her side.  
  
"Somewhat. It's kind of unnerving when some of your friends are staring at your body and not your face though."  
  
Neal nodded in agreement.  
  
Kel contently danced with Neal, enjoying the moment that she's been dreaming of ever since she had a crush on him. However, she spotted Raoul standing in the wine area. Like her, he was forced to go to the ball, whether he liked it or not. He was dressed brilliantly and at the moment, he was alone, staring at her.  
  
"Neal, would you excuse me? I need to get a drink."  
  
Neal stopped their dancing, a bit disappointed but said, "Okay. Save for me another dance then," and he walked off as she walked towards Raoul.  
  
"Raoul." she began.  
  
"Let's talk outside Kel. There are prying eyes," Raoul said and he led the way.  
  
She found herself in the quiet courtyard that she had been watching the women practice their glaive. The moonlight bathed the entire place with a soft glow of milky white light. Off to the corner was a small garden safely covered with willow trees and a bench in its midst.  
  
"Kel, about that night-" Raoul began.  
  
"No Raoul, it's my fault. I shouldn't have-" she interrupted.  
  
"-it's understandable. I just wanted you to stop worrying about the whole deal. I know you've been avoiding me these past few days but I'd like us to go back to that comfortable friendship thing. I don't want you to feel awkward around your friend."  
  
Kel stood silent, disappointed somewhat. I guess I've been waiting for some heated confession about his love for me. A simple lovesick girl's fantasy. She put up her best Yamani face and replied, "Of course not. I've just been busy with the whole preparation. You know, girl stuffs."  
  
Raoul looked at her skeptically. He could smell a lie instantly when she put up her Yamani mask. He clapped his hand on her back and smiled. "Well, since that's done with, I love your outfit."  
  
Kel smiled superficially and then said, "Thanks."  
  
There was an uncomfortable silence between them.  
  
"You know." Kel started softly, "sometimes the words and the actions of a drunkard aren't as superficial as you might think," and then she quietly walked away from him, her footsteps echoing in the courtyard.  
  
Raoul stared at her fading figure. "Sometimes people must be able to read underneath the underneath." (quote from Kakashi! ::hearts::) 


	13. Too Much to Drink

Kel rejoined her eager friends. A lot of them were already a bit rosy and tipsy from the amount of alcohol they drank. Cleon sauntered over and smiled drunkenly at Kel.  
  
"Hey Kel, wanna dance?" he asked, his speech slurred.  
  
"Uh. sure." she replied, a bit worried.  
  
He led her to the dance floor, his steps a bit unsure of where to go next. Kel used most of her strength to hold him up straight so he wouldn't fall on her and create a whole new ruckus.  
  
When they danced closed to a wall, her strength failed her and Cleon tripped, pushing Kel up against the wall and himself uncomfortably close to her.  
  
"Ya look reel pretty in that dress Kel. Reel pretty," he said, closing in on her face.  
  
"Cleon, what are you doing?"  
  
"Kissing you."  
  
"Well, would you be kind enough to resist yourself from doing so?"  
  
"No~" and he leaned even closer, grabbing a firm hold on her waist.  
  
Suddenly an arm shot out from nowhere and pushed Cleon away from her.  
  
"You heard the lady Cleon. She doesn't want to kiss you. Now would you mind?" Neal warned viciously, immediately at Kel's side.  
  
"Oh, right. Cheerios Kel," he said cheerfully and walked away.  
  
"That wasn't very nice now was it?" Neal said, his voice dangerously calm.  
  
"Don't do anything rash Neal. He's drunk."  
  
"Being drunk doesn't excuse you from being rude like a common drunkard in the city tavern."  
  
"Just leave be Neal. It's my business."  
  
"Hey Kel!" Prince Roald called from afar.  
  
"I think Roald wants a dance. I'll see you in a bit," and she walked to where he stood, smiling brightly and accepting his hand to dance.  
  
~8~ Kel casually sauntered in the dark corridors to her bedroom. The night had gone pleasantly. She had been offered several different hands to dance so she was never on a chair to rest. Her cheeks were flushed from the dances she accepted and her hair was tousled lightly from the spins she spun. Dwelling on her pleasant evening, she failed to notice a burly noble appear from the shadows.  
  
"Hey girly, you wanna have a good time?" the guy asked, his breath smelling of various alcohols from the evening.  
  
"No thanks. I already had a good time at the ball," she replied, her voice a level higher from the panic that began to rise from her throat.  
  
The man grabbed her and pulled her against him roughly.  
  
"Let me go!" she shouted as he began to kiss her hard on the lips. 


	14. Knight in Shining Armor

Raoul walked around the corridors, his disposition a bit flighty from the fact that he didn't enjoy the ball at all. as always. But his restlessness seemed altogether new because it had forced him to leave the comforts of his room to walk around the corridors like a ghost. As he mindless wandered, he heard a horrified muffle in the shadows. He ran to the source of the sound to see a lady being forced to being laid by a drunken man. But for some reason, the lady seemed to be a bit strong for she had been able to land several serious punches in the man's face.  
  
Displacing his curiousness, he immediately went to her aid and successfully grabbed the burly man and threw him against the wall.  
  
"What the? What's the big idea you loser?!" the man shouted as he struggled back on his feet.  
  
The lady whimpered softly and crouched against the opposite wall hidden from the shadows.  
  
"It's not very civil to force a lady to bed. You should be hung for that."  
  
"Don't tell me what's right and what's wrong. I'll do as I please!" and he launched himself on Raoul.  
  
Raoul picked the man up easily and threw him against the wall again. "Leave the lady be and I might spare your life you scoundrel!"  
  
The man rose up, scowled at him and then departed to his way.  
  
"Lady are you all right?" he asked the crouching figure in the shadow.  
  
".Raoul?" the figure asked softly, her voice quivering from fear and tears.  
  
"KEL?! Mithros, Kel! Is that you?!" and he helped her on her feet.  
  
Kel immediately hugged her hulking savior, immensely relieved by his timing. Her tears from fear changed to tears of relief, soaking his tunic completely. "Thank the Goddess, thank the Goddess," she repeated over and over again as she clung to him.  
  
Raoul tightly hugged the quivering girl, knowing that at that moment, she had been on the verge of being violated.  
  
The quivering bundle continued to hold dear to her savior, crying from relief, from terror, from the fear still left from her ordeal. This was nothing like the Chamber of the Ordeal. The chamber only revealed her deepest fear, nothing about the daily terror people experience in their life. The fear of being robbed, murdered, blackmailed, and for women. rape. The infallible Chamber of Ordeal wasn't so perfect after all. The Chamber had robbed their fear of the ordinary terror along with the supernatural. It had made them feel supernaturally invincible but now Kel was far from feeling invincible; she felt like a small child again. The terror that she had left behind to become a knight had come flooding back into her and she was left stripped of any strength against the fear.  
  
Her fingers buried themselves into the burly knight's skin but he stood firm, continuing to hold the traumatized girl, knowing that whatever emotion she was going through was incomprehensible for him.  
  
Her eyes wide, she looked up, tears still flooding in her eyes. "Is it okay if I-"  
  
"Yes, it's okay," he said reassuringly.  
  
Kel gave a weak smile and closed her eyes.  
  
Raoul carried the slumping figure carefully to his room, gently laying her on his bed. She immediately curled up into a fetal position, grabbing some of his blanket like a baby. Raoul smiled genuinely and kissed her softly on the tear-stained cheek. "Good night my little angel." 


	15. Recovery

Kel lazily woke up, the sunlight blearing her vision momentarily. She found herself sprawling over a bed that did not appear to be hers. She immediately remembered last night when she was being abducted by a rude, crude, and lewd "noble" drunk and began to feel a panic rise from her throat. However, she recognized a familiar sword lying on the floor and remembered how Raoul had allowed her to stay at his room for her to recuperate from her scare. She smiled faintly at his consideration, remembering the fear for her in his eyes when he saw her about to be abducted. I think I'm falling in love again, she thought bemusedly.  
  
"Good morning my Yamani Lump. Care for some breakfast?" Raoul offered cheerfully as he brought in a tray full of hot oatmeal, various fruits, and a goblet of light wine. "You just missed breakfast and your friends are looking for you, especially Neal," and he winked.  
  
Kel made a face at his extremely childish antics and proceeded to dig in. As she was about to grab for an apple, the sleeve of her tunic rose up, revealing several very nasty-looking bruises. Kel fell silent momentarily, remembering where the bruises came from. Raoul silently walked towards his desk, pulling out a small container. He opened it to reveal a container full of cream colored balm. He dipped his finger inside and cradled her arm with his opposite hand. He gently rubbed the soothing balm on her arm, his eyes intently focused on the bruises as if trying to heal them by the "power of his eyes."  
  
Kel faced him quietly, noting the extreme care he showed as he rubbed the salve on her arm. For an instant, she wanted to grab the arm that held her bruised limb, pull him close, and kiss him on the lips, like the way she used to when she was drunk. Unfortunately, she didn't have the bravery like she did when she was intoxicated. Blushing slightly, she continued to watch him.  
  
"There. That should do it for now," he said happily and looked up to see her eyes watching him and her cheeks tinged faintly. Their eyes locked on each other, and Raoul began to lean closer.  
  
Suddenly they were interrupted by a loud knock on the door. "Kel, are you there? Sir Raoul said you were sick or something," said Neal from outside the door.  
  
Raoul cleared his throat awkwardly and then stood up to open the door.  
  
"KEL!" Neal exclaimed as soon as Raoul opened the door. "Are you all right? Are you feeling okay? Nothing serious?"  
  
Kel stared at him momentarily, somewhat disgruntled at the fact that he had interrupted a special "moment" between her and Raoul. But the dark clouds that stood above her head dissipated once she realized how concerned her best friend was. She smiled brightly over his concern. "I'm all right. I've recovered. Don't worry about it."  
  
"Are you sure? Maybe I should check up on you just to be on the safe side," he said hurriedly and then rest his hand on her forehead. Green light began to emanate from his hand as he began to examine her.  
  
Raoul watched the two from a distance, lightly envious of the fact that Neal had the ability to heal the wounds that he never could. It was also apparent that Neal was in love with his friend. What he wasn't so sure about was whether or not Kel loved him back. He couldn't even tell if the girl loved him, no matter what her drunken self had told him. He sighed softly at his current situation and decided he needed some air to clear his head.  
  
Kel saw Raoul step outside of the room. Thinking that he was mistaking her relationship with Neal, she wanted to go after him. But the intent concentration Neal had for her at the moment held her back. She didn't want to just desert Neal when he was giving her so much attention to her "illness." She sighed inwardly and resigned herself to be examined, hoping that perhaps Raoul will still be around for her to talk to. 


	16. Alone

Crescent Moon, Desert Storm. Kel repeated over and over her head as she swirled, twirled, spun her glaive in the air, following the age-old techniques of the Yamani glaive dance. She stepped forward with her right foot and swiftly brought the blade down to the dirt, finishing her Lotus Leaf. Beads of sweat embellished her forehead, rolling gently down her brows, then lashes. She untied her hair and flung it in the evening wind, shaking off the sweat and heat from her exercise.  
  
Raoul saw a distant figure swirling a long lanced weapon and immediately recognized it to be a glaive. With that information, he derived the figure to be Kel, the girl who was currently in his mind. His steps faltered, unsure of whether or not he should approach her at the current moment. He didn't want to intrude at an intimate moment and he wasn't sure if he wanted to see the girl who was currently throwing his sanity out the window.  
  
Kel saw his hulking figure at the edge of the forest. Probably came from the Royal Forest, she thought to herself as she stared at the figure. He didn't show any signs of movement, either towards or away from her. Is he waiting for me to make the first move? she asked herself, looking for any visible signs. Like Raoul, she wasn't sure if she wanted to intrude on his hermitage, which is rarely achieved.  
  
She sighed heavily. Maybe later, she thought and picked up her glaive from the ground.  
  
He saw her go through her routine again. He sighed, either from relief or disappointment, he didn't know. 


	17. Star Cross'd Lovers

Neal looked out from his window. Star-cross'd lovers? He thought bemusedly with a wry smile as he stared at the two distant figures, one of his best friend and love Kel and one of the high commander of the King's Own Raoul. He sighed heavily as he retreated into his chamber, sinking down heavily into his chair. Faint herb smells wafted to his nose, calming him down and allowing him to think reasonable for the time being.  
  
I should have said something before something like this happened, he thought regretfully, remembering what had happened between her and Cleon and Kel's growing affection for Raoul. Cleon was someone Neal didn't have to worry about but Raoul, he was a different story. A dashing successful man like Raoul was a man hardly any woman could resist.  
  
What made it even more of a daunting task was the fact that Raoul was a man who hardly toyed with a woman's feeling. He rarely fell in love and he rarely fell out of love. If he said, "I love you," there was no doubt that he truly meant it, even if it killed him.  
  
He ran his hand over his hair in frustration. He wasn't anyone special that made him stand out. Sure he was funny, but that was all he had. He didn't have the special characteristics that made a man, a man. If only there could be a way to win her heart...  
  
He shook his head of the nonsense that crept into his mind. He would not force her to love him. No matter how tempting it sounded, he refused to willfully change a girl's affection, especially if the girl was his best friend. 


	18. A New Mission

"There's a rumor about a Scanran rebellion pillaging a small village in Galla in the name of Maggur. I think we should send a division there to check things out," Alanna the Lioness suggested as she read the latest report from the Queen's Riders.  
  
The bright blue eyes of Evin Larse, the next highest leader beneath Buri, Raoul's one time lover, watched the king pace around the imperial study as he swirled his cup of wine absently.  
  
King Jonathan of Conté ran his fingers through his blue-black hair, now striped with white, nervously and worriedly. "Another report of a Scanran rebellion? When will this ever end? That bastard was defeated a year ago!" and he slammed his fist on the desk of his personal study.  
  
Alanna's piercing violet eyes stared into Jonathan's own sapphire eyes. "I know. We all know. But last year had been the first time the Scanrans had any decent leader to unite the tribes and had the firepower to shake Tortall deeply. You think they're going to back off that easily when they were so close before?"  
  
Jonathan sank into his seat and sighed heavily. "I don't like the fact that these rebels have to choose a helpless village to plunder and murder in order to get their voices heard. I don't like the fact that I have to send a division there and risk another bunch of lives because some rogues won't back off."  
  
Alanna laid a comforting hand on his shoulder. "That's part of being king. You have to take actions now before they gather more force."  
  
There was a moment of intimacy between the two legendary figures. Evin Larse could only stare at the two entities that had shared a past feeling of love.  
  
Jonathan stood up and stared at the moon past the window. "Who do you suggest we send?" he asked Alanna.  
  
"Keladry of Mindelan and the King's Own."  
  
"Raoul too?"  
  
"Yes."  
  
"Very well. I would hate to lose two good soldiers in one day. May the gods watch over them."  
8  
  
There was a series of loud banging on her door. Kel, with her hair sticking all over the place, groggily woke up and opened the door. To her surprise, she found Raoul in his sleepwear and wide awake, holding an opened parchment that had been sealed with the royal seal. Kel guessed it to be a command from the king about where she would be stationed.  
  
Raoul smiled brightly, being the wonderful morning he is and said, "Guess what I have in my hand?  
  
"My freedom?" she asked groggily.  
  
"Your long awaited freedom," he elaborated happily. "Joy..." and she went back to sleep.  
  
"We're being assigned to patrol the borders near Scanra," Raoul said, giddy with joy like a boy who receives a gift for his birthday.  
  
Kel could relate with how he felt. He, like Kel and many other knights, hated being cooped too long behind the castle wall. They had a duty to do, which consisted of being outside the safety the walls provided, protecting the unprotected and righting the wrongs. It left them helpless and useless to be in the Court, listening to the chatters of scatterbrained ladies of the Court and the sly wheedling of the aristocrats who attempted to curry favors from those above their status.  
  
However, the thought of spending time with Raoul dampened her spirit of adventure. Would it really better the situation she was in?  
  
She sighed heavily and covered her face with her blanket.  
  
"Oh go be a baby then. I'm going to get ready," Raoul said cheerfully and left, his steps a little lighter than his usual trudging.  
  
All she could do was blink underneath her sheet. She was too wide awake now to go back to sleep. Muttering colorful languages that she picked up from the soldiers from the forts she had worked in, she got dressed quickly and grabbed her glaive.  
  
She breathed in deeply and exhaled. There was nothing better than the morning air. She started to warm up with a slow circular motion. Her feet then started to follow the age-old pattern of intricate footsteps that imitated a crane in a dance while her arms drew complex circles and swirls with the glaive. By the time she was finished, her clothes were soaked in sweat.  
  
"Very nice! I can never get tired of watching you guys swing that glaive around," a feminine voice said.  
  
Kel swirled around to see a pair of violet eyes that were smiling at her with admiration.  
  
"Lady Alanna!" Kel exclaimed in surprise. Her idol who had sent her so many useful and EXPENSIVE gifts mysteriously stood before her now, commenting on how she admired HER.  
  
"Oh come on now. Don't be so stiff. We were so comfortable before. Call me Alanna."  
  
"But my Lady... It makes you feel so..."  
  
"Normal? Kel, I'm just a person like you. A lady knight. You don't need to elevate me to a status of a goddess or something," and she made a face in disgust.  
  
"Of course not. You never wanted to be anything more than a lady knight... like Keladry," a voice that sounded like a huntress leading a pack of hounds commented out of nowhere.  
  
Alanna stiffened, recognizing that voice immediately. Kel looked around frantically to try and pin point the voice, embarrassed by being caught off guard again. A tall hooded figure walked up to them. She pulled off her hood to reveal a pale eerily beautiful face, complete with long black tumbling locks, a pair of emerald eyes, and full red lips.  
  
"It's been a while, my Daughter," she said to Alanna as her scarlet lips curved into a smile.  
  
"My Mother," Alanna said begrudgingly and kissed her hand, wincing at the jolt of power she felt from the touch.  
  
"Mother? THE Great Mother Goddess?" Kel exclaimed.  
  
The goddess smiled once again and nodded slowly. "I came here not to greet you but because I have a new mission for the both of you. I'm sure Keladry will be glad of this because she wants to avoid a certain someone."  
  
Kel blushed at that statement.  
  
"As for Alanna, once again you must separate yourself from your doting husband and children in search of something that disturbs the balance of good and evil once again."  
  
"A new evil? Can't we be left alone for at least a decade?" Alanna complained.  
  
A new mission! Away from the palace AND the problem it brought. Kel smiled in relief. This would definitely give her some breathing room and time to think. She would have time to sort her feelings about Raoul and her best friend.  
  
She kneeled before the goddess and kissed her hand. "As you wish, my Mother."  
  
Alanna muttered under her breath about how she had experienced enough evil to last her past her death. "I don't like the idea of leaving my family for some ambiguous evil but it looks like I don't have a choice."  
  
The goddess smiled placidly. "Perhaps you'll find more than just your adversary." In a blink of an eye, she disappeared.  
  
"See what I have to deal with?" Alanna asked Kel exhaustedly.  
  
"This is the stuffs that made you a legend!"  
  
Alanna rolled her eyes and trudged back to pack.  
  
Kell stood alone in silence for a brief moment. Then like Alanna, she went off to pack, her mind tranquil as it had been the day she arrived in the palace the first day of her goal to be a knight. 


	19. Mean Comments

Before I go any further, I'd like to say one thing. Whoever wrote that inflammatory comment about how sick I am obviously didn't read thoroughly enough. I haven't written anything that was related to sex or any of that nature, besides the intimation that some drunkard was suggesting he might rape Kel. There are plenty of other stories that actually write those things in detail. If you, whoever you are, are terribly offended merely by the fact that Kel drank herself silly in an attempt to get rid of her pain of what she had seen her past year, you condemn the entire human population. I'm sure there are people who don't drink because of their pain but there is still a lot of people who do, and I'm just categorizing Kel to be one of those who drink in sorrow. It's not according to the real book because this is a fan-fiction and I write what I think should happen. I don't see how it is sick to have Kel like Raoul considering the fact that Daine is Numair's lover. I think it was common practice back then and even if you do shun that sort of relationship, you are shunning the marriage practices back then and even now. You can't say that nowadays no one marries someone way above their age. I am extremely offended to consider my work a junk. Obviously the people who commented on my story thinks otherwise. Please keep your inflammatory opinions to yourself. 


	20. Heartfelt Farewells

"You what?!" Neal exclaimed in horror as he watched Kel pack her clothes and weapons.  
  
"I have to go east, as the Great Mother said."  
  
Neal paced the room impatiently. "But why? And why you? Why can't Alanna go on her own?"  
  
"Are you implying that I'm not worthy enough to journey with her?"  
  
Neal blushed at his mistake and began to stammer. "You know that's not what I meant! Isn't Alanna her chosen knight? Why do you have to be dragged in this mess?"  
  
"Stop fussing like a father who's about to let his daughter go on a journey unprotected. Gods are unpredictable. Like Sir Myles said too many times, we don't ask them to meddle with our life but they will do it anyway."  
  
Neal sighed heavily. "Then just wait a minute," and he dashed out of the room. A moment later, he came back with a small container. "It's some of my best healing salves. Use it when you need it most. God only knows how much trouble you'll get into."  
  
"You sound like a mother hen, fussing about Kel like that," a bemused voice remarked from the doorway.  
  
"An old lady like you shouldn't even think about going on adventures," Neal retorted.  
  
Alanna grinned brightly at her ex-squire and tussled his hair. "I'm not old yet lady-buck. I can still leave you lying in the dust in any duel."  
  
Kel packed the last few things she needed. No need for any personals, she thought as she looked at her mirror and feminine utensils. She grabbed her glaive and the balm and faced neal. "If Sir Raoul comes looking for me..."  
  
"I know. Tell him you're on a mission with Lady Alanna... I'm going to miss you Kel."  
  
There was a pause between them.  
  
"Just eat your vegetables and watch your tongue. That tongue of yours gets you in a lot of trouble. I'd hate to come back and hear that you were killed in a duel because your sharp tongue insulted someone's honor," Kel advised softly, holding down the lump that was clawing up her throat. She smiled weakly.  
  
Neal suddenly grabbed her tight and encircled her with his arms. "Stay safe. I will never forgive you if you die," he whispered into her ear.  
  
Kel looked at his brimming eyes and smiled. "You know me," and walked with Alanna.  
  
8 "Looks like my ex-squire thinks of you more than just a friend," Alanna commented as they began to set off to the east blindly.  
  
Kel blushed fiercely and tightened her rein on Peachblossom. He shook his mane and twisted his neck around, as if to reprimand her for tightening her grip.  
  
"Sorry," she apologized as she loosened her grip.  
  
"Neal and Raoul. Quite a selection."  
  
Kel stopped Peachblossom. "You know about Sir Raoul?" she asked in dismay.  
  
"Who do you think made him that broth to clear up your head?" she grinned wickedly.  
  
Kel remained silent.  
  
"Which reminds me... What are you doing, drinking yourself silly?"  
  
Kel urged Peachblossom to trot again, finding words to explain. "...It helps me-"  
  
"Forget? Kel, drinking never completely erases your pain away."  
  
Kel shrugged nonchalantly and ignored Alanna.  
  
"Well, we don't have to bond and have a heartfelt conversation immediately." 


	21. Confessions Amongst Friends

Raoul paced around king's study impatiently as King Jonathan of Conté eyed his friend worriedly. Too many things were running through his mind. Kel and he were originally stationed at the borders of Tortall. When he came back to wake her up once again, she was gone. He had spotted Neal walking out from her room earlier but hadn't really noticed anything strange from it. Once he discovered her room vacant, he wanted to confront the young man. Before he had a chance to talk, he was intercepted by a messenger who had a request from the king.  
  
"Alanna took her on an 'adventure?' What can she be thinking?!" he asked in disbelief.  
  
"How many times do I have to repeat myself before I get it in into your thick skull? Yes she did take Kel on an adventure," Jon responded, exasperated.  
  
"Why are you so obsessed about it anyway? I'll just replace her spot with another knight. I'm not about to send you out alone. Nowadays knights go in groups of two or more, remember?"  
  
"It's not that, Jon. It's..." He broke off and paced the room again, running his fingers through his thick black locks of hair.  
  
Jon stared at his friend thoughtfully. The normally calm and jovial Raoul now paced before his eyes, distraught over the fact that Kel...  
  
"You're in love with the girl, aren't you?" he asked bluntly.  
  
Raoul stopped pacing and sat down hard on the nearest seat available. He poured himself some brandy and remained silent.  
  
"But you were engaged to Buri..."  
  
"Said she didn't want a knight anymore. She wanted a steady dependable man who would always be there to take care of the kids and be a shoulder that she could lean on at anytime of the day. Said she finally 'grew up,' " he said bitterly.  
  
Jon stood up and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "I'm sorry."  
  
"I don't want pity Jon. I've had enough of that. Especially from the ladies."  
  
"How does Kel fit into the picture?"  
  
Raoul swirled the wine in the cup. His eyes glazed off momentarily to think of words that would explain how he felt. "She's... the only gal besides Alanna who I've spent the most time with. I don't love her. Not yet. But she is one of the few females that I feel... comfortable with."  
  
"The Court won't leave you two alone-"  
  
"It's already been started. I've seen and heard all. I won't leave her hurting because the Court thinks it to be wrong for a man to enter a woman's chamber without an escort."  
  
"Maybe it was a good thing that Alanna took her. It will give you time to sort your thoughts and restrain yourself before you do something brash. It'll also give the Court some time to gossip on something else."  
  
Raoul drank his brandy in one gulp. He sighed in satisfaction as the wine began to dull his senses and gratify his need for comfort. He stared at the ceiling as the wine began to work on his brain.  
  
"You know that I have a competition?" and he chuckled softly. "A boy. Someone green."  
  
Jon knew. A gifted boy could never remain hidden in the eyes of a king.  
  
"Nealen of Queenscove? You should know him. Several years older than Kel but still not as old as I..." he quieted. "I may as well be on the same level as Blake. Taking children to my liking," he spat bitterly.  
  
"You know that's not true."  
  
"It may as well be," and Raoul of Goldenlake stalked off angrily out of the room as Jon looked out after him.  
  
8 Kel spread out her blanket and began the long process stripping out her travel clothes to wash herself and to dust off her belongings.  
  
Alanna, already down with her washing, began the fire for the two big trout she caught for dinner. She heard a loud yelp from the stream nearby and smirked mischievously. She had conveniently "forgotten" to warn her companion about the water's temperature. She tended the fire as she heard the approaching footsteps.  
  
"You never mentioned that the water was cold," Kel sulked, sopping wet and unhappy.  
  
"You never asked lass."  
  
Kel grumbled about how Alanna should have warned her anyway if she had any considerations when Alanna announced that their dinner was ready.  
  
"I'm not the best of the best, but the food is edible," Alanna declared as she spooned out some spiced rice from the travel pot she had brought along, and chewed on a sliver of flesh.  
  
"Your mess can't be better than mine," Kel remarked as she joined her.  
  
There was a comfortable silence between the two as each consumed their fill of dinner in satisfaction.  
  
Kel broke the silence. "I haven't had this time of comfortable silence for a very long time. I've always been surrounded by-"  
  
"Men. Yes, they tend to take away that silence most of the time. They don't understand the meaning of silence, even if I'm married to one of them," and Alanna winked.  
  
"It's not just men, it's the Court. They're always focused on the latest gossips, and if you have any slight misstep, you are the talk of the Court for months, not that I care much about it."  
  
Alanna made a rude noise. "That's because they have nothing to do. Socializing like a bunch of crows cawing at something stupid. I'm glad I live at Pirate's Swoop. I wouldn't be able to stomach all that gossip that floats around constantly."  
  
Kel nodded.  
  
"Speaking of gossips... What is really between you and Raoul? From what I know personally, you guys are just good friends from your relationship as his personal squire. Normally, I'd ignore rumors about who is sleeping with who but..."  
  
Kel grimaced. "It's complicated. Oh would you look at the sky. I think it's time to sleep. Good night!" and she immediately laid down and closed her eyes.  
  
Alanna saw through her tactic but only smiled in good humor. "Good night Kel." 


	22. Decisions

Raoul knew it wouldn't be a good idea to get drunk. But he did anyways. It gave him a fuzzy warm feeling that he wouldn't have felt at his normal state. It was also a distraction from his current situation.  
  
He was torn in two. He wanted to be a man and run after Kel, to grab her and hold onto to her. Yet his duty as the Knight Commander demanded his presence at the borders where he was currently assigned to. His heart and his sense of duty sparred and clashed constantly, one never waning to the other.  
  
He slammed his fist on the table in frustration, instantly disturbing the mugs of beer and ale from the other customers. People curiously stared at the distraught man and gave him a wide berth, unwilling to provoke the giant man into anger. He knew what he had to do. 


	23. Progress Achieved

It had been weeks since the two left on a blind quest for some evil that the Goddess had sent them on. Yet there were no signs of disturbances in any place that they had been on. Kel was starting to get bored while Alanna was already there. Desperate to find anything that might be of use to them, Alanna led them to a quiet village where it appeared that they had little word from the world outside.  
  
Kel looked vigilantly at the villagers, hoping to find something when she bumped into an old woman.  
  
"Grandmother, are you all right?" she asked in concern, helping her up.  
  
Instead of a gentle smile of an elderly, there was a dark shadow over her face. Her eyes went unfocused and she uttered, "The great ones will fall as the darkness grows." Her eyes focused again, and she smiled apologetically. "I'm sorry dear, what was that?"  
  
Kel, her face drawn white, mumbled something and helped her up. She watched her go as Alanna joined her.  
  
"What happened?" she demanded to know.  
  
"She said the great ones will fall as the darkness grows. What do you suppose that means?"  
  
"I don't know but it seems as though our adventure begins here. Why don't we settled in at that inn over there." Alanna jerked her head towards a decent-looking inn called the Dreamer's Keep.  
  
Kel smirked at the name. "Dreamer's Keep?"  
  
"As long as they have decent food, warm water, soap, and bedding, I don't care what the name is."  
  
8 Kel went down into the pub before Alanna, who was scrying on a rose-colored mirror to look for her husband. No one to look for at home, Kel thought to herself, ignoring the nagging feeling that Neal and Raoul would probably be anxious to hear from her.  
  
She sat far from the crowd, who were currently gathered around the center of the fireplace to listen to a bard sing a tale about dragons and gods. She sipped on her ale and observed quietly.  
  
"Quiet lad, aren't you," a man commented as he sat next to her.  
  
She grinned widely at the man's honest mistake and faced him head-on. "I'm only being observant."  
  
The man stared at her for a moment and then broke into a grin. "A lady knight! An honest mistake lass. Didn't mean to insult you or anything. I haven't seen a woman knight before today. What a sight for sore eyes."  
  
Kel quickly looked over him. The man was in his mid-twenties and in tiptop shape. He had his midnight black hair loosely tied behind his head which revealed a cleanly shaven face marked with a deep scar across his right cheek. Unlike the peasant attire of the common folks in the pub, the man was dressed in a leather jerkin, ermine vest, and a simple tunic. He walked unarmed. His emerald eyes glittered with amusement. "You're a Shang," she accused him.  
  
"A Shang doesn't always meet a lady warrior," he replied.  
  
"But Shangs have women who learn combat," she objected.  
  
"But they fight differently than from a knight. My name is Nighteyes," and he offered a callous hand.  
  
"A wolf," she commented as she shook his hand firmly to assert that she knew how to fight.  
  
"Why have you come adventuring in a sleepy town like this?" he asked as he looked at the crowd that danced merrily to the songs.  
  
"We were... compelled," and she said no more. She didn't want to tell the stranger too much about their adventure lest he hinder their progress somehow.  
  
Alanna chose to barge in at that moment, her skin tinged with red from a hot water bath. "It feels so nice to be clean again!" she exclaimed loudly.  
  
Kel waved an arm at Alanna to indicate where she was. Alanna looked curiously at the Shang warrior while she sat next to Kel.  
  
"Ah, the Lioness. It's a real pleasure to meet you. I am called Nighteyes," and he again offered his hand.  
  
Alanna grinned at the young man's easy-going nature and shook his hand firmly. "A wolfed Shang. It's been a while since I've met a Shang warrior. The pleasure is mine."  
  
Alanna struck an animated conversation with the Shang. Kel's mind drifted towards the common crowd and spotted a lone person, cloaked in black, sitting a bit farther from the crowd. He or she raised the cup towards her direction to beckon her. Kel obliged and joined the mysterious stranger.  
  
"You sit apart from the crowd and your friends," the person commented, in a strong baritone voice.  
  
"And did you feel it necessary that I needed company?" Kel asked.  
  
She heard the man chuckle. "I am the White Prophet. You are Keladry of Mindelan. You search for something you do not know, is that correct?"  
  
Kel gaped at the man.  
  
He removed his hood and cloak to reveal a pale man with white hair adorned in white everything. His eyes were the only parts of him that were not white; they were red. He smiled wearily.  
  
"I am the White Prophet. I looked far and wide to search for a... 'Hero' as you might call it. Or heroine in this situation."  
  
Kel looked at him in surprise. "Heroine? You must be stuck in some fairy tale man. That kind of talk belongs to something from the legends."  
  
The mysterious stranger smiled. "Perhaps we are about to make a legend. In this case, we seem to have two heroines. You and Alanna," as he nodded his head towards Alanna, "Although I did not envision two females who would play a crucial part..." he drifted off uncertainly.  
  
Kel had other things in mind. Me, a heroine? Could this be a chance to prove myself worthy of my shield? Will I also have a chance to be a part in the legends?  
  
Alanna approached the two contemplative figures. "Made two friends in one day. You've proved yourself to be a very social person already."  
  
Kel snapped out of her reverie and remembered her manners. "Lady Alanna, meet..."  
  
"You may call me Tyrael."  
  
"Pleased to meet you, Tyrael," Alanna said warmly, refusing to stare at the pale white stranger rudely.  
  
"Like-wise Lioness. I've always dreamed of meeting the infamous Female Champion with a raging temper that matches the redness of her locks," and he smiled.  
  
Alanna blushed and held her tongue to disprove his point.  
  
Nighteyes looked at the man suspiciously.  
  
"No need to be wary of me Shang of the Wolf. I'm not the enemy you seek. Perhaps your journey with the 'ladies' may lead you to whom you seek for."  
  
Nighteyes' eyes widen in surprise. "How did you-"  
  
"Save your questions for later. For now, it shall remain a secret," he smiled clandestinely and went up the stairs.  
  
Nighteyes sat down hard where Tyrael had sat originally. "What a weird man."  
  
"Weird but harmless," Kel reassured him.  
  
"For now."  
  
8 Kel remained sitting where she sat when she met the White Prophet. Alanna and Nighteyes had left way earlier, declaring that they needed to sleep and get rested for the next day. Kel, on the other hand, could not sleep; she was bothered by the way everything was unfolding before her. She stared at the dimming candlelight and her fingers mindlessly thumped repeatedly on the wooden table. Something big was happening, yet she couldn't understand what. The prophetic message from the old lady she had bumped into still irked her. The great ones will fall as the darkness grows... If only she could understand what that meant...  
  
"Can't sleep, can you?" Nighteyes remarked as he joined her in the candlelight.  
  
"What about you? You seem wide awake," Kel shot back.  
  
"Wolves are nocturnal by nature," as he shot her a wolfish smile.  
  
Kel rolled her eyes and stared off into space.  
  
"With you young 'uns jabbing away like women gossiping by the laundry pool, I'll never be able to get my beauty sleep," Alanna complained as she thumped down the stairs, rubbing her eyes miserably.  
  
"Beauty sleep? You're too manly to be worried about your beauty," Kel joked.  
  
"My my, is that the first joke you cracked on this old lady? Well aren't you starting to feel comfortable around this legendary figure."  
  
Kel smiled wearily.  
  
"Is that prophesy getting to you?" Alanna asked in a serious tone as she joined them on the table.  
  
She nodded as she grabbed a piece of cooling wax from the fading candle and began to roll it into a ball.  
  
"Well let's think logically. What did this old lady say?" Nighteyes asked.  
  
Wolf-logic, Kel smiled to herself. "She said the great ones will fall as the darkness grows."  
  
"Can we give her much credit to be saying this prophesy?"  
  
"Considering that we've had no headway," Alanna spoke up, "I'd say this was the first clue we came up against besides what the Great Mother Goddess said. And! We were complaining about how we needed clues about our quest right before the old woman started talking."  
  
"I don't know whether to consider the prophesy credible or fallible from that logic..." He paused. "Supposing that the prophesy was true, who would be considered the great ones?"  
  
"Well that's easy. The gods and goddesses," Kel piped up.  
  
"But aren't they infallible?" Nighteyes debated.  
  
"Actually..." Alanna began. "There was a prophesy about the downfall of the gods and goddesses. Numair mentioned something about that and we nearly had that prophesy fulfilled during the Great Stormwing War."  
  
"You mean the one about Orzone and Daine?" Kel asked curiously.  
  
"Exactly. If that prophesy is about to happen again..."  
  
"That would mean that Chaos is going to start something again." Nighteyes concluded.  
  
"Nothing is ever that simple," a voice remarked amusedly from a dark corner. Tyrael emerged from the darkness in a white robe, his hair still radiating from the dim light the candlelight provided.  
  
"What do you mean?" Alanna charged.  
  
"Could it be that the word Chaos mean the what of chaos and not imply the who?"  
  
"Not the who but the what?" Nighteyes asked.  
  
"He means that the prophesy might not be talking about Chaos the Goddess but chaos in general. The fear and the terror..." Kel said softly.  
  
"That means we will have to search for something more than just be satisfied with the old woman's prophesy..." Alanna said tiredly. "Well, enough of thinking for the day then. I'm off to bed and I suggest all of you do too. Otherwise you people will cause racket and I won't be able to sleep. If I'm not able to sleep, then you people will suffer the consequences of my irate mood in the morning."  
  
Everyone cleared off at that moment for bed as Alanna chuckled bemusedly. 


	24. Sacrifices for the Sake of Love

Neal couldn't sit still. It had been about a week since Kel had left with Alanna with some grand adventure but he couldn't stop worrying about his friend and secret love. The Baron seemed well satisfied with his wife's wild chase after an adventure, undoubtedly receiving a myriad of letters and reports from his wife incessantly even as he sits at this moment. Kel hadn't sent anything about her well being to anyone and he was beginning to worry. At the moment, he was contemplating on whether or not he should pack up and start after the trail Alanna and Kel had left, maybe with a help from the Baron as well.  
  
His thoughts were interrupted with a knock.  
  
"Sir Nealan of Queenscove, may I have your audience at my chamber for the evening?"  
  
Neal's ears pricked at the sound of the voice. It was Raoul. He opened the door to find the big man standing in front of the door formally.  
  
"I will join you for the evening. Does it require anything formal?"  
  
"Oh no. It will be quite a comfortable atmosphere. It will only be you, myself, and Jonathan." With that, he departed on his way.  
  
Jonathan? KING Jonathan? Neal shifted his weight uncomfortably as he stood at the doorway, staring at the man disappear in the hall. What do they want?  
  
8 Neal swirled the wine in his glass for the fifth time during that evening. Raoul was like-wise uncomfortable in his situation. KING Jonathan was late to their rendezvous and Neal was too young for Raoul to converse about the passing times.  
  
The door swung open quietly as a tall black-headed man enter the room. The king was dressed informally, his crown nowhere in sight. "You don't know how long those advisors go on and on about the well-being of the kingdom and how I'm spending too much money on the education of the poor, " he complained as he poured himself some wine and familiarly sat on a couch between Raoul and Neal.  
  
Raoul smiled in good humor as he replied, "Ah But they are only the advisors. Surely the king can do as he may."  
  
Jonathan shot him a sour look. "You know very well a good king can't offend his nobles. I'm doing a silly balancing act on a piece of string, trying to appease both the nobles and the commoners." His eyes fell on Neal. "Ah! Nealan. How do you do?"  
  
"Very well, thank you Your Highness," Neal replied stiffly.  
  
"Come now, don't be so stiff-necked. We're all men here," Jonathan joked as he slapped him in the back good-naturedly.  
  
Neal smiled unsurely.  
  
"I believe young Nealan would like to know why he is here with us," Raoul commented.  
  
"Ah, yes. Neal, I know you feel very uncomfortable sitting with the two of us, especially with Raoul."  
  
Shifting his weight to and fro, Neal rubbed his hand together and faced the floor.  
  
"I'm sorry if I sounded so blunt. It's in my nature. Going back to our conversation-"  
  
Raoul cut in. "What Jonathan means to tell you is that I won't be around here to chase after Alanna and Kel and make sure they stay out of trouble, even though we know very well that they are perfectly capable of taking care of themselves. I know we both want to make sure that the person we care about is same and clear away from danger." Raoul stared at Neal unnervingly.  
  
Neal looked up at him. "What do you mean?"  
  
"I know you love her. Keladry of Mindelan. My ex-squire. And in some way, I do too and I know you know. As much as I'd like to go after her and at least offer my hand in their service, I can't. My duty binds me to the kingdom, whether I like it or not. It's not that I love Tortall more than Kel. It's only that I must protect a country full of people and be wise to let another perfectly capable man do what I had intended to do. Do you understand what I mean?"  
  
"Sir Raoul means well Neal. It's been hard on him to tear his heart away from his duty and ignore his passion. Likewise, I know it's hard for you to be here and talk to your 'rival.' But I believe this will be a better solution. It would be reassurance to send another person to aid them in their quest. I'm not so sure Kel can contain Alanna's enormous temper," Jonathan explain, smiling at his little stab at Alanna.  
  
If Neal thought anything about Jonathan's concern about Alanna, he didn't reveal it. Instead he replied, "I had been thinking about going after Kel, if not able to bring her back, then to aid her and Lady Alanna in their quest. Can I go on this quest with your permission?" he asked Raoul.  
  
Raoul smiled wearily and sadly. "Nealan, you don't need my permission to do what your heart tells you to do. Just make sure you will aid them competently."  
  
Neal stood up and bowed. "Thank you sir." With that, he left the room quietly.  
  
"Are you sure you made the right decision to let him go after her like that?" Jonathan asked him in concern.  
  
"I am never sure of what I'm doing. It is a risk to send a man who's in love with the same girl whom I have affection towards. But it is better to send someone to aid her than to send no one at all," Raoul replied quietly.  
  
Jonathan looked at his friend unsurely but remained quiet for his benefit. It was better to keep his doubts within than to worry his friend further. 


	25. Puzzling Revelation

Back to square one. We're stuck with a prophesy from an old woman, a Shang warrior, and a pale man who calls himself the White Prophet. How much better can this adventure get? Kel thought wryly as they began to head out towards the east with their much larger company.  
  
Alanna paid their inn fee and then rushed out to join them on her horse Shadow's-Bane, the child of Darkmoon. The entire company fell silent as they began their blind journey, each mulling over their thoughts on what they interpreted the prophesy to mean.  
  
Kel sneaked a glance towards the White Prophet, who now adorned himself in the same black coat she had met him in that first meeting. Once again he looked inconspicuous amongst his colorful company of newly acquired friends. She wished to know what he knew about the entire expedition. She knew that he knew more than he had led them to believe. But the reason was why. Why does he remain ambiguous and separate from the entire group? If only he were easier to talk to and more open...  
  
"Contemplating on something worth sharing, Keladry of Mindelan?" Tyrael asked, breaking into her thought.  
  
Kel blushed, mainly by the fact that the main object of her contemplation was of him. "What do you think about all of this?"  
  
Tyrael remained silent for a while, the gentle trotting of the horse hooves skimming the ground reigned between them.  
  
"I believe what we are about to do, whenever that event may occur, will be a very significant event that may even offer any one of us a huge opportunity for something magnificent," he finally concluded.  
  
"What do you mean by something magnificent?"  
  
"I'm not too sure Keladry of Mindelan. I am only a vessel for the many prophesies that are being foretold. I See when I'm meant to See. This Gift is perhaps one of the most unstable branch of magick that I know, Wild Magic being the other."  
  
Kel thought over what he said. Like Tyrael, Alanna and Kel acted only as a vessel for an ambiguous catastrophic event that began in the east. "Tell me about yourself. I'm curious," she asked impulsively.  
  
Tyrael looked startled briefly and then broke into a genuine smile. "You are full of surprises. I won't be surprised if you are the first to solve our riddle." He then looked towards the road. "I'm not too sure where my life began. I was born as how you see me here, with the pale skin, the white hair, the mysterious physical exterior that set me apart from everyone else. Yet in my village, this was considered a special gift. I was blessed with a gift that was more than the Gift of Sight; the Gift of Prophesy.  
  
There is one White Prophet anytime there is a great evil that threatens the existence of Middle Earth, or in your language, the People and the humans. There is a rare occasion when there are two White Prophets, of which then one lives to destroy all that is living and the other as the anti-thesis, the exact opposite. It has happened before.  
  
Now here is where everything becomes ambiguous. There has been a rumor circulating around my hometown of a sighting of another White Prophet. Yet that has to be impossible because when there is a birth of a White Prophet, he or she is immediately sent to a special school for training. I was sent to such school and received the appropriate training. However, I haven't met any other White Prophets in that school. It was an immense relief to both my masters and myself. If this rumor reveals itself to be true however, we have indeed a great foe on the other side."  
  
Kel gaped at the man in horror. This sort of information was a giant revelation to a world she had never known about before. Even such an established person as Alanna or Numair had never mentioned something like this before.  
  
"How come I've never heard about this before?" A voice suddenly asked sharply.  
  
Kel looked round to see that Alanna had made a complete about-face, halting in front of Tyrael. Her face had turned pale from hearing about his story, which was no surprise. This was a whole new set of information that threatened everything that existed. The Shang likewise had turned his horse around, but his face wore a scowl, threatened by this new revelation that was ready to tumble his world apart.  
  
"It was never really a secret. I've never heard of my school as something of a hush-hush. There really had been no need for a White Prophet. The last White Prophet that I know of had walked on this world many years before when the dragons roamed this world rather than in the realms of the gods. It was through him that the dragons came back from existence. I believe that this sort of record just simply deteriorates from age from the extreme doubt of its probability."  
  
Alanna looked at him startled by his blunt and absolute wild prediction. "How can you be so sure about human nature to conclude something like that?"  
  
He faced his pale ice-like glance towards her. "If I know anything about human nature, especially those who posses pride, anything that is highly improbable will be likely concluded as something fallible and be destroyed, considering that document to be merely fiction."  
  
She looked away. "But to think that these people would be so reckless over such an old document..."  
  
"The Shangs have never mentioned something like this before. Surely a battle that had changed a course of history would be mentioned in our trainings," the Shang attacked.  
  
"Perhaps your teachers did, but in a different name. Maybe they weren't too sure about the validity of the word of mouth, or oral tradition. Do not the Shangs teach their pupils through the techniques that had been passed down, rather than reading from the book?"  
  
"Well we fear that by writing it down in a book would risk a chance of exposure."  
  
"So perhaps this war had been passed down orally. However, because it happened too long ago, people began to fear that the tale had been exaggerated and therefore ruled it out as something that might have happened, but to a smaller degree."  
  
Nighteyes went silent, contemplating on what Tyrael had just said.  
  
"You have a rather cynical view of people, don't you," Kel commented, looking at the now confounded Alanna and Nighteyes.  
  
"I believe the mortals are born evil. It is through experience that they learn kindness and generosity," Tyrael simply replied and urged his mount to continue on.  
  
Well that's a food for thought, Kel thought silently as she trailed after him. 


	26. Picking up the Trail

He wasn't too far behind. In already a week, he had caught up to the inn where Alanna and Kel had stayed, Dreamer's Keep. What had been an interesting find was the fact that they had now two men that traveled with them. I don't know whether to feel wary or feel relief from this bit of information, he thought wryly as he settled in for the night.  
  
He lay on top of his bed, taking a long while to get settle because of the inn's uncomfortably hard bed. Staring at the ceiling, he thought over what had happened between himself and Sir Raoul. Even after a week it still was hard to swallow by the fact that Raoul, the man who had professed his love for Kel, had sent him, his rival for Kel's affection, to chase after her, to provide her aid if needed. He shook his head off the nonsense that was creeping into his mind. This was no time to worry about where Kel's heart laid and the motive of Raoul. What was important was that he had to find her fast, if not to protect her from whatever she faced, at least to protect her from the Lioness, who was not only famous for her temper, but was also infamous for her grumpiness in the morning. 


	27. Ready to Sort

All the while, Alanna, who had been on Neal's thoughts, was disturbingly quiet, still mulling and gathering her thoughts, wondering how she was going to be able to put into words that wouldn't extremely perturb Jonathan or Numair. This was no time to call on George and make sure that he stayed out of trouble for another day.  
  
Nighteyes had disappeared into the thoughts, using the excuse that he would look for their dinner when in actuality he wanted to be alone with his troubling thoughts.  
  
The only one in their company who was not disturbed by the new discovery was the man who had broken the news to the party. Tyrael remained in his black cloak, looking mysterious as always. Kel wondered if he put up that façade to draw curious attention to himself because she always felt drawn to asking him questions after questions whenever she looked at him.  
  
Kel poked at the small fire, making sure that it wouldn't die before Nighteyes got back with their dinner. Like everyone else besides Tyrael, she was unsettled by their discourse. However, it wasn't very useful t dwell on the past and the disappeared accounts of what Tyrael had spoken in detail. What perturbed her was the fact that if the Great Stormwing War wasn't too great to bring forth a White Prophet, the very evidence that showed her that there was a White Prophet sitting before her only meant that whatever that was ready to unfold before their company would be far more disastrous than the Great Stormwing War.  
  
She sighed heavily at her grim conclusion. This would definitely be no easy task.  
  
"My presence doesn't mean that whatever that is to happen has happened just yet."  
  
Startled from her thoughts, Kel jumped from where she sat. "Can you read thoughts?" she asked as she faced Tyrael.  
  
He chuckled at her naiveté. "No. But I can tell by the look on your face that you are worried about that general topic."  
  
"But everyone else has the same expression as I do," Kel objected, a little ticked off by her gullibility.  
  
"But then again, you aren't trained in reading faces," he replied. "When you're in a predicament as I, it's very important to read about your surroundings as well as the person you speak to."  
  
"Predicament? What kind of predicament are you in that demands you to read faces so well? I have been trained to read faces also because my line of work needs me to read what those under my command feel from their heart and not from their words. But you seem to have a skill that is more highly tuned than of my own..."  
  
"When you're born deaf, you are taught to read lips. But you cannot detect the hint of sarcasm, scorn, and distaste. I'm sure it would be better to be ignorant of those types of expressions. But I discovered that I had a talent to read people's expressions as well."  
  
"Tyrael, you are full of surprises, do you know that? Just when I think I have you figured out, you bring up another fact about yourself that catches me off-guard," Kel said flatly.  
  
He smiled genuinely. "Life is full of surprises Keladry. Trust not your instincts alone but your wit and what you learn also."  
  
"Tyrael? Do you have a minute? Numair Salmalín, our resident black robe mage, would like a word with you," Alanna interrupted.  
  
Tyrael gave her the same smile as Kel. "Of course. A revelation like this wouldn't be ignored to a scholar as he. Excuse me Keladry. Work beckons."  
  
Kel nodded politely and Tyrael walked off to a distance to a secluded area. Alanna followed him and handed him her rose mirror. She uttered something to him and left him alone with the mirror.  
  
"Numair had never heard of anything like what Tyrael told us on the road. Neither has Jon. Jon's at the palace library trying to find anything that might at least mention what Tyrael said. Numair wants to directly talk to Tyrael and make sure this isn't all just an elaborate fraud. What a day!" Alanna exclaimed as she crumpled next to Kel.  
  
"You're telling me. I caught us our dinner. I hope everyone's in the mood for some rabbit meat," Nighteyes said at that moment, entering into the campsite with three hares.  
  
"I've been thinking," Kel began as Nighteyes knelt by the fire to start preparing the meat, "if the White Prophet didn't appear in the Great Stormwing war, yet appear at our adventure-"  
  
"-it would only mean that what we chase after is something more dangerous than that war. Yes I've been thinking about that," Alanna agreed.  
  
"Tyrael said something about how there might be a chance that whatever evil we're chasing after may not have begun yet."  
  
"It's a possibility I guess," Nighteyes commented as the meat slowly began to roast. "I've been thinking... for a prophet, he sure is vague about a lot of things that will happen in the future. He hasn't given us any hint about what you ladies are searching for. I can't help but think that he's up to something, that he's not really a prophet like he said. I mean, how do we really know that the story he talked about really did happen? There is no proof because he says the records were destroyed a long time ago due to human error. Can we really trust that?"  
  
"Is there any harm in trusting that man, at least for a while?" Kel asked.  
  
"Not yet. But we may walk into a trap if he isn't who he is," Alanna said darkly. 


	28. Suspicious Development

Neal saw their campground. The pit had traces of ember still burning faintly. Like the inn owner said, there were four spots where he could conclude that they were the sleeping spots of the entire company. Something bright caught the corner of his eyes. He walked off a bit farther away from the original campsite to find a small inconspicuous fire pit. There was a set of faint footprints that led to a small brush that overlooked the campsite. They were not alone.  
  
8 The party settled for a midday rest. Kel volunteered to water all of the horses. The offer was gladly taken. She led the horses to a small stream. While the horses drank and began grazing, Kel decided she needed a long drink and knelt to do so. Before she could get a handful of water to drink, an arrow whizzed right past her, nicking her right arm in the process. She immediately shouted a warning as she grabbed a small javelin she carried in her boots and looked for the source of the arrow. She saw a small movement from the brushes across the stream and she blindly threw it, hoping that it would at least slow down the assassin for questioning. She heard a cry of pain, followed by a crashing noise of a body falling down on the forest floor. She grabbed one of the horses and galloped across the stream to the body. The assassin had been wounded in one of his legs and he was clutching it in pain while blood gushed from the lower region of his leg.  
  
"Kel! Are you all right?" Alanna shouted as she joined her across the stream with her horse.  
  
"Don't you move!" she threatened him. "I'm fine! Just a small nick. Guess what I caught though," she told Alanna.  
  
Alanna knelt beside the injured man. "You're lucky he missed. We were all caught totally unaware. If you hadn't said anything, we'd probably be all killed before we knew what was going on. Thank the gods for that."  
  
She flipped the man to force him to face her. "Who sent you? Why are you after us? What do you want?"  
  
The man smiled evilly and suddenly died.  
  
"How-" Kel started.  
  
"Sorcery!" Alanna hissed as she grabbed a dark stone from underneath her blouse. She saw a trace of violet fire disappear around the man's neck. She dropped the stone from her hands in shock. "Violet!"  
  
"Violet? What's violet?" Nighteyes asked as he joined them.  
  
"The sorcery... The magic... was violet. Like mine... And Thom." 


	29. Author's Note

Author's NOTE  
  
If you guys are curious where I got that whole "White Prophet" nonsense, it's from another set of trilogies by Robin Hobb. It's not Lord of the Rings. I think it's "White Wizard" instead of "White Prophet." I mixed it in just a little because I needed a whole new set of bad guys for their new adventure. I won't go too much in detail about their adventure because obviously this is a gushy romantic thing between Kel and Neal or Kel and Raoul. I'm not going to say anything about who she's going to end up with. But I thought I needed a new thing besides Kel worrying about who to like and whatnot because it's too boring to always write about love troubles. I'll get back to it. I promise! Maybe Raoul will decide to come to the rescue after realizing his mistake. Maybe Neal will somehow contract some weird disease and die. Who knows? Maybe Kel will die without making a choice. 


End file.
